THE increasingly bitter dispute over new contracts for County Durham’s teaching assistants took a new twist today when Unison members voted overwhelmingly to strike.

The union, which represents about 1,700 of the county’s 2,600 teaching assistants (TAs) said 93 per cent of members who responded to the ballot, which opened on October 6, voted to strike.

The exact nature of the action to be taken has not yet been decided, but Unison has notified Durham County Council of the decision.

Unison members in Derby have taken strike action in a similar dispute.

Durham County Council is trying to change contracts so that TAs receive term-time pay only, a move workers claim could result in up to a 23 per cent pay cut.

The authority argues the move is necessary to bring it into line with other councils, and will reduce the legal risk of disputes over equal pay from other employees.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis, who was in Durham last week for a rally with the TAs, said: “These are low-paid women workers who deserve much better from their employer – a Labour council.

“Even at this late stage there’s still time for councillors to think again and agree to reverse their decision to slash the pay of these workers by nearly a quarter.”

Northern regional secretary Clare Williams said the decision to move to industrial action has not been taken lightly.

She added: "But with employees facing massive pay cuts, they have been left with no other option. Durham council must do the right thing and get back around the negotiating table.”

The union’s Durham County branch secretary Neville Hancock said: “This shows the incredible strength of feeling in this long-running dispute.

“Every day teaching assistants go above and beyond the call of duty yet are being treated like second class citizens.”

Unison members are set to be dismissed and re-engaged on the new contracts from January after they rejected a final offer from the council. They will be offered a one-year compensation deal.

GMB members voted to accept the council's offer of a two-year compensation deal.

The council’s head of education, Caroline O’Neill said: “We are obviously very disappointed that following lengthy discussions with trade unions and ACAS, two consultations, and extensive efforts to mitigate the impact of paying our valued staff only for the hours they actually work, Unison members have taken this decision.

“Throughout this process we have been really clear that this is not a situation we would want to be in, but one that – like all but one other council in the North-East and many nationally - we have a legal and moral duty to deal with, due to the huge potential for extremely costly equal pay claims by other staff, which could put council services and jobs at risk.

“We will now work with head teachers to ensure that any disruption to education is kept to a minimum.”